ezo
Get off my lawn!
Just posting about a point I had discussing some game design I'm working on with some friends, very much (loosely) based on 5E (hence the 5E tag).
Part of 5E (and D&D in prior editions to some degree) that bothers me is the idea that PCs, their classes and races, are "magical". I prefer that they aren't. I prefer that they USE magic.
I also posted in another thread that I am perfecly happy with such "mundane" PCs doing things beyound what we currently can in real life, as long as it is close enough to be plausible in my "fantasy" world of D&D. Allowing for the plausible, means I can keep things from becoming magical.
Now, to be clear, I am completely for magic being used! For example, once in an AD&D game a player I knew had a thief-acrobat who could long jump over 20 feet IIRC. This is certainly possible in real life, of course! However, this PC also had two magical items: a ring of jumping, and boots of striding and sprining. The DM then allowed the effects of both items to stack with the PC's class ability, meaning if both were used in tandom with his jump, he could jump 80 feet! Of course, take away his items---and he can't do it.
My preference would be such for all classes. Take away the spellbook, and the Wizard cannot cast. Take away the holy symbol, and neither can the Cleric, and so forth. The biggest implication is that whatever magic a PC or NPC uses, can somehow be taken away.
Of course, as I mentioned, the limits don't have to be completely mundane without magic, but "plausible". The game we're developing is based on such principles.
In many ways, I suppose this is the antithesis to The Magical Martial thread, which I am dubbing The Mundane Mystics.
Part of 5E (and D&D in prior editions to some degree) that bothers me is the idea that PCs, their classes and races, are "magical". I prefer that they aren't. I prefer that they USE magic.
I also posted in another thread that I am perfecly happy with such "mundane" PCs doing things beyound what we currently can in real life, as long as it is close enough to be plausible in my "fantasy" world of D&D. Allowing for the plausible, means I can keep things from becoming magical.
Now, to be clear, I am completely for magic being used! For example, once in an AD&D game a player I knew had a thief-acrobat who could long jump over 20 feet IIRC. This is certainly possible in real life, of course! However, this PC also had two magical items: a ring of jumping, and boots of striding and sprining. The DM then allowed the effects of both items to stack with the PC's class ability, meaning if both were used in tandom with his jump, he could jump 80 feet! Of course, take away his items---and he can't do it.
My preference would be such for all classes. Take away the spellbook, and the Wizard cannot cast. Take away the holy symbol, and neither can the Cleric, and so forth. The biggest implication is that whatever magic a PC or NPC uses, can somehow be taken away.
Of course, as I mentioned, the limits don't have to be completely mundane without magic, but "plausible". The game we're developing is based on such principles.
In many ways, I suppose this is the antithesis to The Magical Martial thread, which I am dubbing The Mundane Mystics.